


The Knight and His Boy

by The_Alias (Artemis_Day)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bedtime Stories, Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Child AU, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Jacob Barnes is too smart for his own good, Kid Fic, Marvel Fluff Bingo 2020, dad bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23752681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artemis_Day/pseuds/The_Alias
Summary: In which Jacob Barnes is up way too late and Bucky isn't much of a storyteller. Or is he?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Jane Foster
Comments: 15
Kudos: 31
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Marvel Fluff Bingo





	The Knight and His Boy

**Author's Note:**

> Written for:  
> Bucky Barnes Bingo Square K4: Book  
> Marvel Fluff Bingo Square G1: Child AU

“Dad, will you read me a bedtime story?”

While it was not an unusual request, it was also 8:30 and Jacob should’ve been asleep an hour ago. Why he wasn’t was a question for the ages, but it probably had to do with that Crossing Animals game he’d fallen in love with last week.

“I think you’ve had enough stimulation for one day,” Bucky said.

He tried to tuck Jacob in, but the boy was slippery. Soon he was sitting upright. “I really like that book of fairy tales.”

Said book had been crammed in the back of his bookshelf since Jane’s mother gave it to him for Christmas. Bucky raised an eyebrow. “Since when?”

“Since now,” Jacob said. “And always! I’ve always liked it. I like it a whole lot.”

“Which is why you don’t read it.”

“I’ve been waiting for the right moment to take it out, and that moment is now.” Jacob pouted. “Don’t you want to read it, Dad? It’s a perfect way for us to bond.”

“I think we bonded just fine when I took you fishing last month.” 

“But that’s what we always do,” Jacob whined. “We need more variety in our lives. Plus, fairy tales aren’t just about princesses and dragons. They’re allegorical cautionary tales meant to teach children lessons like not trusting strangers and obeying your parents. Do you _want_ me to become an anti-intellectual delinquent one day?”

Bucky stared blankly at his son. “Who let you on the internet?”

Jacob cocked his head to one side, arms folded.

Sensing there was no winning or getting his rambunctious child to bed any other way, Bucky extracted the fairy tale book from its dusty prison next to a children’s chemistry guide and some old picture books. It took him another five minutes just to break the spine. 

“All right,” he said, flipping through the pages. “Fairy tale… fairy tale… how about Cinderella?”

“Nah, I’ve heard it before,” Jacob said.

Bucky frowned. “Then let’s try… Sleeping Beauty?”

“That one is boring. Who wants to just be sleeping all the time?”

“I don’t think she had much choice in the matter.” Bucky stopped at a random page. “What about The Cat that Married The Mouse? What the heck…?”

“I bet that one ends with the cat eating the mouse.”

“Of course it doesn’t. They wouldn’t put that in a kid’s book.” Bucky flipped to the end of the tale, his eyes widening. “Oh... Okay, I have an idea.”

He closed the book and then opened it again, landing in the middle of another story. On one page was an illustration of a girl walking through the woods with a baby deer at her side. What were they doing? Where were they going? Where did that kid get a deer? It was probably an interesting little tale, but it would remain a mystery.

“There we go. Got the perfect story for you,” Bucky grinned.

“Are you just going to make something up and pretend it’s from the book?” Jacob asked.

“No,” Bucky said, holding the book so that Jacob couldn’t see the pages. “Now then, once upon a time, there was a young girl who loved science-”

“I think you’re making this up.”

“Don’t talk back to your father, kid.” Bucky stared Jacob down until the boy seemed to be cowed. He cleared his throat. “As I was saying, there was a young girl who loved science. Since Grimm’s fairy tales don’t often have names, we will call her Jane for the sake of ease.”

“Sure we will,” Jacob muttered.

Bucky chose to ignore that. “Jane was a highly intelligent young woman who loved to chart the stars.”

“It’s pretty convenient that this fairy tale has an astrophysicist character just like Mom,” said Jacob.

“Yes, it certainly is,” Bucky said, turning the page like he actually had a reason to. “So young Jane wanted nothing more than to study the sky and not be burdened with less important things like ballroom dancing and marriage proposals. Except she was also the most beautiful gal in the entire kingdom, so she was constantly getting invited to parties and constantly having guys throw themselves at her feet to declare their love to her. This didn’t really fit in with her life plan, so she decided to give her suitors a challenge. ‘If any of you can bring me a star from the sky, I will marry you,’ she said.”

“Some of those word choices are really unique for a fairy tale,” Jacob said.

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Anyway, once Jane had laid out her terms, the game was on. Men from all over the kingdom showed up at her door with shiny rocks and jewelry and anything their pea brains thought could pass for a star. Jane, being much smarter than all of them, saw through the charade every time and turned all the fakers away. Word soon spread to neighboring kingdoms of the beautiful lady Jane and her challenge. Now even more potential husbands came banging on her door, which just meant even more men for her to refuse.”

“So when does the brave knight Bucky come in?” Jacob asked.

“I never said there was a knight,” Bucky grumbled. He turned another page. “Well, anyway, one day… a knight named Bucky showed up.”

“Knew it.”

“And this knight had heard about Jane but wasn’t looking to try and make some random woman marry him by just handing her what is essentially a ball of hot gas. In fact, he was just passing through on his way to go save some particularly stupid friends of his from doing reckless sh- stuff while trying to save people again. Unfortunately, his horse was tired and it was looking like rain, so he decided he should find somewhere to stay for the night. As it happens, the only house with a light still on belonged to Jane. When she heard the knock on her door, she was sure it was just another guy looking to win her over with a piece of amber he found. Instead, it was a handsome young knight who was only hoping to get some rest in her stable. Jane, being the awesome woman she was, let him stay in her spare room where he would be warm and have a comfy bed to sleep in. She even made him tea.”

“When do they have sex?”

Bucky nearly dropped the book. “Are you serious?”

Jacob shrugged. “I think it’s a legitimate question. Clearly Jane must like Bucky if she’s letting him stay in her house.”

“You can like someone without having sex with them.”

“Yeah, but you and Mom are always-”

“ANYWAY!” Bucky jammed his finger on the page. “Bucky stays the night, but that same evening, an entire group of spurned suitors arrived at Jane’s door. They had grown tired of her games and demanded she chose one of them immediately. Poor Jane didn’t know what to do. From his window, Bucky saw the horde of men. There were at least fifty of them, and since he didn’t want to leave a total massacre in Jane’s front yard, fighting them probably wasn’t a good idea. He’d have to think of something else in order to get rid of them. Now, what most people didn’t know was that Bucky had a curse on him. Long ago, he’d been captured by evil wizards and subject to horrific and extremely R-rated tortures, so forget I said that.”

“Are wizards really a good allegory for HYDRA? Then again, I guess dragons would’ve been a bit too on the nose.”

“But the end result was that Bucky had lost his arm and had it replaced with a silver-plated prosthetic. It was an amazing feat of medieval technology. Impervious to wear and tear, swords, bullets, and most importantly, fire! In the corner of the room was a lantern. Bucky scooped out the flame and gently carried it down the stairs. He stood behind Jane acting as though he was always meant to be there, and the suitors were surprised to see him.”

“‘Hello,’ he said to the crowd. ‘Good evening to you all! Why have you disrupted our wedding night?’”

“All of the men were greatly confused. The elusive Jane? Already married? Many doubted it was true and angrily questioned the pair. Bucky just smiled and held out his silver hand. He kept his fist half-clenched, just barely letting the light seep through.”

“‘I am indeed married to Jane,’ Bucky said. ‘I have completed her task and brought her a star from the sky. I hold it here in my hand. Do you still doubt me?’”

“Fortunately for Bucky, these guys were as stupid as they were persistent, and they all went home in resigned disappointment, never to bother Jane again. Jane was incredibly grateful to Bucky, who asked for nothing in return. It was his way of paying her back for sheltering him. As long as she was safe, he was happy. Because of his kindness and ingenuity, not to mention how devastatingly attractive he was, Jane fell deeply in love with him and asked him to marry her for real. The wedding was celebrated the next day and Bucky and Jane lived happily ever after. The End.”

As Bucky closed the book, Jacob slowly raised an eyebrow. “You know, for a story with a knight, it’s seriously lacking in epic quests or any sort of combat at all. Comparatively, this was pretty mundane. Also, you didn’t answer my question.”

“What question was that?”

“When do they have sex?”

Bucky facepalmed as Jacob stifled a laugh. “If you really want to know, they had plenty of sex, and then they had a mouthy little kid named Jacob who needs to go to bed right now.”

He coaxed Jacob down and tucked the sheets around him. All the lights went out except the solar system night light on the dresser. Bucky left the door open an inch like he was supposed to, hanging back to make sure the boy didn’t try to escape or pull a toy out from under his pillow. 

When he walked away, a voice stopped him. “Night Dad. Thanks for the story.”

After a moment, Bucky smiled and kept going. Down the hall, Jane was standing by their bedroom door. She didn’t even try to look like she wasn’t waiting for him. “How’d it go?”

Bucky fixed her with tired eyes. “That kid is going to age me another hundred years.”

Jane giggled, taking his hand as the star-shaped diamond on her finger gleamed in the light. “I think you can handle it. After all, you are my handsome knight.”


End file.
